What Will the iWatch Look Like?

If Apple is, indeed, working on an iWatch, what will it look like? All concepts I’ve seen, thus far, imagine it to be a a miniaturized iPhone on your wrist.

The above concepts are essentially iPhones in watch form. However, I can’t help but think that the iWatch will be an accessory that complements existing Apple products, not a standalone device. This patent suggests that the iWatch’s app icons will be controlled by the desktop, hardly something necessary for an iWatch that can supposedly do everything. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, from ZDNet, lays out a solid case for why the iWatch will likely be an accessory…

While it is easy to get carried away about a wristwatch that could count your laps in a pool, find you a coffee shop, and remotely wipe your lost iPhone, it’s unlikely that the iWatch is going to be Apple’s next iPhone or iPad, either in terms of sales or impact.

Why? Several reasons spring out at me.

The iWatch is not going to pull in the same level of revenue that the iPhone or iPad does;

The iWatch would be a companion device for existing iOS and OS X devices, not a new standalone device;

Wristwatch buyers are fickle—just look at the extensive line-up that companies such Casio, Rolex, and Omega have;

Since storage is unlikely to be an issue, unless Apple transforms the iWatch into some sort of wrist-mounted backup/storage device. Apple will likely find it difficult to squeeze higher revenues from a product by offering it at a variety of capacities;

There’s a limit to what you can accomplish with a screen that can fit on your wrist.
– Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from ZDNet

Again, this illustration is influenced by a patent which suggests that the iWatch’s apps will be controlled by a desktop. Because everyone has smartphones, it can be taken to mean that the smartphone will control the iWatch in a similar manner.

Even if the iWatch can’t be on the same level as the iPhone or the iPad, I believe it can still be something that captures our imagination. It can still be as easy to use and beautiful as any other Apple product…

The concept borrows from Apple’s spiral navigation patent.

Yelena Lamm, a graphic designer (as well as my mom), and Matteo Gianni, an industrial designer, helped me bring my iWatch concept to life. With this concept, navigating your iWatch is as simple as the old iPod click wheel.

The design of the watch itself is similar to the Ikepod Geneve Horizon series. Why Ikepod? Jony Ive is very good friends with Marc Newson, who owns and designs Ikepod watches. Furthermore, the Geneve Horizon series is very Apple-esque.

That’s Ive wearing an Ikepod, alongside one of his best friends, Marc Newson, who designed that watch that he is wearing. So, I don’t feel it’s a huge stretch to say that iWatch may have hints of Ikepod in its design.

The iPhone may have reinvented the shape of smartphones, but it’s hard to reinvent the shape of something as simple as a circular watch. If Marc Newson has no influence on Jony Ive, it’s still clear that Ive prefers to wear normal looking, albeit expensive watches…